They were staying here for Christmas. It was going to be the first Christmas ever she and her sister would be away from their family and Madelyn was struggling with this, even though she didn't want to show that she was. With the emotions of being away from her parents at Christmas and the events at the competition, she was not feeling her usual peppy self so instead of hanging out with all the other students so she thought she'd hang in the room for the day.

Pulling out her picture book she sat on her bed with her stuffed pillow and looked through the pictures. Laughing at some of the ones with no-maj friends and ones with her family. She wondered if there was anything she could by around here to send home for her parents to enjoy. Something that could be new for them.

With having letters sent off to her family informing them of her progress in the competition, Irene made a quick detour to the kitchens and then back to the Beetle. Fortunately she had met a very nice house elf who had given her some marshmallows, two mugs of hot chocolate, and some cookies. As she walked back to the beetle, she set the mugs floating in the air so that she could carry the rest of her things and open doors. She nodded to her fellow schoolmates as she entered the beetle and headed straight for the girl's rooms to relax.

Opening the door, she found Madelyn looking over a book. Was that a picture book? Seeing her fellow schoolmate reminded Irene of a few questions she had for her concerning Brent Westwood. However, those questions could wait. Instead she floated the hot chocolate towards the girl slowly. She hoped that she was doing alright. She hated seeing people upset especially Madelyn because Madelyn was so nice and sweet and incredible. "Hey Madelyn. Want a hot chocolate?" she grinned. "Or marshmallows? Or cookies? I befriended a house elf in the kitchens."

Kathleen Yang was just so so so so so so so so so tired. this was JARVEY year and even though she'd been distracted from that the moment they landed in Limey-land, she'd been cruelly reminded again and again but the course work set by the professors (we're looking at you Williams).

she kicked off her boots and flopped dramatically on her bunk bed, a lifeless wave was sent towards Irene and Madelyn. "Hiiiiiieeeeee." she droned, her greeting only a little muffled by the pillow. Merlin's pants, she didn't even think she could get to any actual writing today.

"cocoa??" she said, raising up on her elbows. "Can I have some? Pleaseeeeee?" the Korean-American whined at her fellow Ilvermornies.

Never much a fan of the cold, Maesi stopped by the cafe to get a mocha latte to help warm her up before heading into the girls' rooms. She didn't even get lost in that crazy maze anymore on the way up, though she kind of missed that. It was a good excuse to use when she was late for class.

But it wasn't an issue today anyway, because she didn't really have anywhere to be. She did want to visit her sister though, so she bypassed the fourth years floor and headed straight for the fifth years.

Sipping her latte as she walked in, Maesi spotted a few girls already there and she wiggled her fingers at them in a wave. "Hey, y'all!" But she headed over to Madelyn's bed and made room for herself to sit down. Ooh, pictures? She had other things on her mind though. "Did y'all hear about the boat party? Doesn't it sound like so much fun?" With this, she addressed all the girls in the room, because who wouldn't think so?

Flipping through the pages of her photo album she looked up as someone else had come into the room. Her lips turned up as she saw it was Irene, "I would love some Hot Chocolate, but no marshmallows please." She really wasn't a fan of the gooey little things. "Becoming friends with the house elves is never a bad thing." Being from No-maj parents she always took interest in the house elves. They were so interesting and so amazing. What did wizards really do without them in their lives? She couldn't imagine schools being able to function as well with Wizards doing all the cleaning and cooking.

"Are you rested up from that competition?" She had worried about all the competitors though she hadn't said much about it since dramatically leaving the stands and throwing her pompoms in the trash. She wasn't even fully sure she'd make an appearance at the next one. Finding the first humiliating enough between Brent and the wands being raised at her.

Watching curiously as Kathleen came in she gave a smile, "Why so tired?
Are you not sleeping well in here?" She hadn't noticed if anyone wasn't sleeping well, but Madelyn was a pretty sound sleeper so that probably didn't help. "She has some cookies too if you are hungry. I think I might still have some chips I brought with us." She had packed her luggage full just in case they hadn't had some of her favorites here.

When her sister came in and sat down beside her Madelyn smiled and was just about to show her a cute picture of the two of them as babies when she asked about the ball. "Oh yeah, I heard about that. I think it will be a great time. We'll get to dress up." That was probably Madelyn's favorite part. She looked at the other girls to see what their thoughts were, but she was sure it was going to be the best time of their lives.

Irene nodded and then just sent the hot cocoa over to Madelyn. More marshmallows for herself then. Yum! Maybe she could even figure out how to make smores inside. She beamed. "I agree. It's never a bad thing getting to know a house elf. He was very helpful!" she said with a few nods before taking a pillow from her bed and plopping down on top of it. Now all she needed was fuzzy socks. Thus the brunette darted over to her trunk and then pulled out a pair of bright pink fuzzy socks (no surprise there because Irene's favourite color was BRIGHT PINK after all). She just found pink to be a very happy color. Irene wiggled the socks onto her feet before plopping down onto the pillow. Ahh... much better.

Huh? Oh right. Madelyn had asked her a question. Was she rested up from the competition? Hmm.. "I think so, Madelyn. I didn't like that competition. It was brutal. The dummy... I still can't believe I got fourth place. It's a huge surprise to me." She had forgotten to use the memory charm on the dummy first. Stupid. Stupid. She was still kicking herself for not doing that. "The dementor was something else..." Irene shivered. "What did you think of it?"

She was about to take a sip of the hot cocoa when Kathleen appeared. "Oh sure, have this one," she said as she levitated the hot cocoa towards her fellow Pukwudgie. She didn't mind not having one because there were plenty of cookies to go around. "Cookies?" she offered, holding out a bag to her fellow schoolmates. "How's it going Kathleen?"

And then another person popped in! Ooh hey, it was Madelyn's sister. Maesi. A happy smile for her too. The ball? Irene nodded. Oh yes, she had heard about the ball indeed and had figured out a dress for it. Well it had to be her dress because it was the only one she brought with her from Vermont. "I have! I'm sooooooooooooooooooo excited. I need to find a date..." she said with a smile tugging at her cheeks. Ooh. Who could she ask? Maybe a Hogwarts boy...? Perhaps. OR ISAIAH. Ooh. Isaiah still owed her a dance. "Are you guys going? Who will you all ask?"

Irene wanted the details. ALLL THE DETAILS.

Maesi gave the other girls a chance to respond to her questions, but honestly, she was just bursting at the seams to keep talking about it herself. And yes, they seemed excited too. Not that she was surprised, it sounded amazing. A formal ball. On a real cruise ship. She had never been on one, but she had seen pictures and heard stories. They sounded really luxurious and that was the type of life she wanted to lead.

"Yes! Of course I'm going," she told Irene with a big smile. Heh. It was interesting that the girl wanted to know who they'd ask, as if they wouldn't get asked first. But as it were, Maesi did do the asking. She had a few in mind, but she saw her opportunity and she took it.

"I already ordered my dress," she informed her sister. "It's super sparkly." Did she expect anything less? But she hadn't brought anything that formal with her when they came as she hadn't known about this ball so she mirrored her father and gave him her puppy dog eyes so he'd buy her a new dress. "And! I have a date! I actually just asked him." She was rather pleased with herself.